A new report by Amnesty International says government-backed forces and armed groups have killed more than 1,800 people and committed widespread human rights abuses in Nigeria’s South-East over the past decade.
The report, “A Decade of Impunity: Attacks and Unlawful Killings in South-East Nigeria”, documents violations and abuses carried out between January 2021 and December 2024 by both state and non-state actors.
Amnesty International identified the state-backed Ebube Agu security outfit and members of Nigeria’s defence and security forces among those responsible.
It also named the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the armed wing of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), “unknown gunmen”, cult groups, and vigilantes as non-state actors involved.
The group said the region has witnessed violence, unlawful killings, torture, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, internal displacements, and restrictions on movement.
Between January 2021 and June 2023, it is estimated that over 1,844 people were killed, with gunmen also targeting security agents and civilians.
The report cited clashes over grazing disputes in Enugu and Ebonyi, and described parts of Imo and Anambra—such as Agwa, Izombe, and Lilu—as “ungoverned spaces” where armed groups displaced residents and took control.
Amnesty International said cult-related violence in Anambra towns, including Obosi, Awka, Onitsha, Ogidi, and Umuoji, has claimed hundreds of lives. It also condemned IPOB’s August 2021 sit-at-home order, saying it violated rights to life, movement, and education.
Ebube Agu was accused of arbitrary arrests, torture, unlawful killings, extortion, and destruction of property, while the Nigerian military was accused of abuses during “Operation Python Dance” (2016, 2017) and “Operation Udo Ka” (2023). These included extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, and destruction of homes.
The report detailed military airstrikes and reprisal attacks in several communities and accused authorities of unlawfully targeting IPOB supporters with excessive force, arbitrary detention, and unfair trials.
Amnesty International concluded that the South-East security crisis is a mix of criminal and political violence, warning that both state and non-state actors exploit it to suit their interests while oversimplifying it as solely an IPOB/ESN insurgency.